LIVERPOOL vs ARSENAL: Mikel Arteta is looking to inspire the Gunners to their first Premier League win at Anfield since way back in September 2012, when he lined up as a player under Arsene Wenger in a 2-0 victory

Mikel Arteta believes Arsenal are ready to seize the moment and finally conquer the Anfield bear pit. Liverpool are currently unbeaten in their past 13 top-flight home encounters with the Gunners and Arteta actually started in midfield the last time his side silenced the Kop.

Now he wants to utilise his experience of the past to finally inspire victory as manager. Back in 2021, he dragged some speakers next to Arsenal's training pitch at London Colney to bellow out renditions of You'll Never Walk Alone.

"That was many years ago, eh?" said Arteta on Friday. A 4-0 thumping followed, so it's fair to reflect the tactic sadly did not work.

When asked whether he needs to strip back the emotion from the blockbuster box-office fixture - a touchline bust-up with Jurgen Klopp ignited the home crowd in 2021 before Granit Xhaka's heated row with Trent Alexander-Arnold helped inspire Liverpool's fightback from 2-0 down in April 2023 - the Spaniard claimed: "Yeah, we believe that this had a bad effect on the team. So yes, whatever is good for the team, we will try to do that as much as possible.”

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If there is one thing that has the ability to irk the home support, it's Arteta's conduct on the sideline. He received his second yellow card of the campaign in the 2-0 win over Everton for frequently leaving his technical area.

Rightly or wrongly, he's harvested a reputation for being a nuisance for fourth-officials, though he isn't fazed by criticism and will not shy away from kicking every ball for his team.

When asked how he feels about such scrutiny, he replied: “I don’t know. Fair or unfair, there are opinions, and the reality is that last year I wasn't suspended for a single match. I will try to do my best, I think the rules are becoming harder and harder. It's something that I don't do consciously, otherwise I would not do it.

"I'm just trying to help my team, try to help the players as much as possible to win the match, that's the only objective and the perception, yeah, it will depend on which parts you carry in your heart probably."

Before last season's tight-knit affair - settled by Dominik Szoboszlai's sumptuous free-kick - a message was emblazoned across a banner on the Kop.

It read: "Always the bridesmaids, never the bride." Now Arsenal return as defending champions with a point to prove following Tuesday's sobering fourth-round Carabao Cup defeat at Fleetwood Town.

In Arteta's mind, the goal has not changed. He explained: "After midweek, the thing that I want at Anfield is winning as well. It doesn't take anything different to that. You have to swallow some pain that's different, but objectively it remains the same.

"But when you go those stadiums, you don't win very often. That's the reality. Like the other teams, they don't win at the end of the day very often. You have to do something special, and we're going to have to be at a really high level to win and I'm confident that we will be. We've been there, so close to winning now a few times and we need to make the next step, which is winning."